Dampened railway car truck bolster



Aug. 15 1.967 A. FLBAKER DAMPENED RAILWAY CAR TRUCK BOLSTER Filed Feb. 1, 1965 i Qgr 2 2i 5 Sheets-Sheet l Jc/lfar fin er /azww 1967 A. F. BAKER DAMPENED RAILWAY CAR TRUCK BOLSTER Filed Feb. 1; 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 8 3 Sheets-Sheet 9 A. F.BAKER DAMPENED RAILWAY CAR TRUCK BOLSTER Filed Feb. 1, 1965 United States Patent 3,335,675 DAMPENED RAILWAY CAR TRUCK BOLSTER Arthur Fielden Baker, Calumet City, 11]., assignor to Amsted Industries Incorporated, Chicago, Ill., 2 corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 1, 1965, Ser. No. 429,584 4 Claims. (Cl. 105-197) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a railway car truck in which the bolster is provided with a friction shoe pocket. The bolster pocket has spaced inclined walls, a back wall and a closed end wall. A retainer plate is detachably secured to the bolster to cover the other end of the pocket.

This invention relates to railway freight car trucks and more particularly to a truck provided with friction snubbing means to dampen vertical movements of a bolster relative to the side frames.

Briefly, the present invention contemplates the provision of a freight car truck comprising spaced side frames supported at their ends upon wheel and axle assemblies and interconnected by a bolster which is resiliently supported at its ends upon the side frames. The bolster is provided with shoe pockets to receive friction shoes which are urged into frictional engagement against side frame columns by compression springs to snub movements of the bolster relative to the side frames. To facilitate assembly and replacement of shoes and springs, spring seat plates are detachably mounted on the bolster to engage the springs against the shoes.

An object of the invention resides in the provision of a snubbed railway car truck in which worn friction shoes and the springs associated therewith can readily be replaced without disassembly of the truck.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a snubbed railway car truck in which the friction shoes and the springs associated therewith are operatively maintained within their respective pockets by means of spring seat plates detachably secured to the bolster.

The invention embodies other novel features, details of construction and arrangement of parts which are hereinafter set forth in the specification and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing a railway car truck embodying features of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary top plan view illustrating the means provided on the bolster for frictional engagement with a side frame column tosnub movements of the bolster relative to the side frames.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of the structure shown in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a transverse section taken along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary transverse section illustrating a modified form of the invention in which two friction snubbing means are maintained within shoe pockets on opposite sides of the bolster by means of a single retainer plate.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary transverse section illustrating another embodiment of the invention in which the friction shoes and springs are replaceable from the top of the bolster.

Referring now .to the drawings for a better understanding of the invention and more particularly to FIGURES 1 to 4 therein, a railway car truck embodying features of the invention is shown as comprising spaced truss type side frames 2 supported at their ends upon. wheel and axle assemblies 3 and interconnected by a bolster 4. Each side frame comprises tension and compression members 6 and 7 interconnected intermediate their ends by spaced vertical columns 8. The bolster 4 is resiliently supported at its ends upon spring groups 9 seated on the tension members 6 between the columns 8. The bolster 4 is provided adjacent its ends with inboard and outboard guide lugs 11 and 12, respectively, straddling the columns.

The bolster 4 is provided adjacent its ends with friction shoe pockets 13' defined by spaced end walls 14 and a back wall 16. Coplanar inclined walls 17 provided on the end walls 14 diverge upwardly from the back wall 16 to merge with the top wall 18 of the bolster. Coplanar guide flanges 19 are provided on the end walls 14 in spaced parallel relation to the inclined wall 17.

Hollow friction shoes 21 are mounted within the pocket-s 13 and each is provided with a flat vertical front surface 22 and inclined spaced coplanar rear surfaces 23 diverging downwardly from the front surface for sliding engagement against the inclined walls 17.. Inclined coplanar wings 24 extend outwardly from opposite sides of the shoe 21 for engagement between the inclined walls 17 land the guide flanges 19.

To urge the shoe 21 upwardly and outwardly against the face 26 of a column, a helical compression spring 27 is interposed between a retainer plate 28 and the top wall 29 of the shoe. To facilitate assembly and replacement of shoes, the retainer plate 28 is detachably connected at one end thereof to the bottom wall 31 of the bolster by means of a tongue 32 engaged in a slot 33', the other end of the plate being secured to the wall 31 by a bolt 34.

In this form of the invention it will be noted that the shoe and spring can be inserted into or removed from the shoe pocket from the lower side of the bolster without disassembly of the truck by providing a retainer plate detachably connected to the bolster.

FIGURE 5 illustrates a modified form of the invention in which a spring retainer plate 36 extends trans versely across the lower side of the bolster 37 and under two shoe pockets 13. The plate 36 is provided with a central boss 38 which projects upwardly through an opening 39 in the bolster 40 and is formed with an aperture 41 to receive a locking pin 42. This form of the invention is otherwise similar to the embodiment shown in FIGURES l to 4 and corresponding numbers have been applied to the parts thereof.

FIGURE 6 illustrates another embodiment of the invention in which a spring retainer plate 43 extends transversely across the upper side of the bolster 44 and over two shoe pockets 45 The plate 43 is provided with a central boss 46 which projects downwardly through an opening 47 in the bolster and is formed with an aperture 48 to receive a locking pin 49. In this form of the invention the spring 50 acts to urge the friction shoe 51 downwardly and outwardly against the column 8 to control movements of the bolster.

I claim:

1. In a railway car truck having a bolster interconnecting and resiliently supported at its ends upon spaced side frames having tension and compression members interconnected by spaced columns, said bolster having a shoe pocket provided with spaced inclined walls, a back wall and a closed end wall, a friction shoe removably mounted in said pocket and having spaced inclined surfaces slidably engaging said inclined walls to prevent accidental removal of said shoe, a retainer plate detachably secured to the bolster and covering the other end of the pocket, and a compression spring seated on said plate and urging said shoe against a side frame column.

2. A railway car truck according to claim 1 in which said plate is detachably secured to the lower side of the bolster.

3. A railway car truck according to claim 1 in which said plate is detachably secured to the upper side of the bolster.

4. A railway car truck according to claim 1 in which said plate extends transversely across the bolster and covers adjacent ends of two pockets, and means detachably connecting the medial portion of the plate to said bolster.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,255,960 9/1941 Bar-rows 105--197 2,295,550 9/1942 Cottrell 105l97 2,295,551 9/1942 Cottrell 188-429 2,315,047 3/1943 Cottrell 105-197 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

H. BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A RAILWAY CAR TRUCK HAVING A BOLSTER INTERCONNECTING AND RESILIENTLY SUPPORTED AT ITS ENDS UPON SPACED SIDE FRAMES HAVING TENSION AND COMPRESSION MEMBERS INTERCONNECTED BY SPACED COLUMNS, SAID BOLSTER HAVING A SHOE POCKET PROVIDED WITH SPACED INCLINED WALLS, A BACK WALL AND A CLOSED END WALL, A FRICTION SHOE REMOVABLY MOUNTED IN SAID PACKET AND HAVING SPACED INCLINED SURFACE SLIDABLY ENGAGING SAID INCLINED WALLS TO PREVENT ACCIDENTAL REMOVAL OF SAID SHOE, A RETAINER PLATE DETACHABLY SECURED TO THE BOLSTER AND COVERING THE OTHER END OF THE POCKET, AND A COMPRESSION SPRING SEATED ON SAID PLATE AND URGING SAID SHOE AGAINST A SIDE FRAME COLUMN. 